Martin

William Alexander Parsons Martin (1827-1916)

Martin, William Alexander Parsons, missionary, born in Livonia, Indiana, 10 April, 1827. He was graduated at Indiana state university in 1846, studied theology at the Presbyterian seminary, New Albany, Indiana, since removed to Chicago, and in 1850 went to Ning-po, China, where he was engaged for ten years in missionary labor. He acted as interpreter for William B. Reed, the United States minister, in negotiating the treaty of 1858 with China, and in 1859 accompanied his successor, John E. Ward, to Peking and to Yeddo, Japan. From 1863 till 1868 he was a missionary at Peking, and in 1869 became president of the Tong Weng college in that city and professor of international law. He was the first foreigner to make the journey from Peking to Shanghai on the grand canal, and described the trip in the "Journal of the Asiatic Society" (1866). He acted as an adviser of Chinese officials on questions of international law when disputes have arisen with European powers, notably during the conflict with France in 1884-'5. In 1885 he was made a mandarin of the third class. He received the degree of D.D. from Lafayette college in 1860, and that of LL. D. from the University of the city of New York in 1870. Dr. Martin edited the Peking " Scientific Magazine," printed in Chinese, from 1875 till 1878, and has published in the Chinese language " Evidences of Christianity" (1855; 10th ed., 1885), which was translated into Japanese and obtained a large circulation in Japan ; "The Three Principles" (1856) ; " Religious Allegories" (1857) ; a translation of Henry Wheaton's" Elements of International Law" (1863); an educational treatise on " Natural Philosophy" (1866); translations of Theodore D. Woolsey's " Introduction to the Study of International Law" (1875) ; the "Guide Diplomatique" of Georg F. yon Martens, and " Das moderne Volkerrecht," by Johann K. Bluntschli (1879); and a work on " Mathematical Physics " (1885). He has contributed to American and English reviews and to the transactions of learned societies, and published in English " The Chinese : their Education, Philosophy, and Letters" (Shanghai and London, 1880; new ed., New York, 1881).